By the fourth time the rows of fifth graders were exhorted to raise their voices, they were psyched. “Roooooaaaaaaarhhhh,” they again shouted. This time it worked. The community had spoken; bullying muscle-bound storm god Anzu was routed; the huluppu tree was liberated!

You actually could leave the kids home and still thoroughly enjoy Inanna and the Huluppu Tree. Combining music, dance, aerial acrobatics and theater, the piece was created by Miami Theater Center (MTC)’s founder, Stephanie Ansin and artistic collaborator, Fernando Calzadilla. Based on ancient Sumerian myths, and featuring original music by Luciano Stazzone with choreography by Octavio Campos and aerial choreography by Lleigh Reynolds, it is presented at the MTC in Miami Shores.

If yours are not among the busloads of South Florida schoolchildren lining up for weekday morning performances, bring them to a Saturday evening show. A well-produced study guide serves as a crib sheet to the unfamiliar names and the story line, while also giving props to Sumerian innovations: the wheel, writing, irrigation, arithmetic, the hover-craft. (Not really, but Inanna’s brother Utu’s nimble horseless chariot is slick.)

Actually, the play’s strongest take-away lies in its moral messages, rather than historical lessons. These are first intoned by Great Grandmother Earth, Goddess Ninhursag (Shaneeka Harrell), in a resounding invocation to the play’s principals, her offspring. And more injunctions percolate up during the course of a drama that is delivered in a flowing sequence of short songs, performed with varying degrees of finesse; a wide-ranging musical backdrop; and dances created by Campos in an appealing diversity of fanciful styles — Middle Eastern-ish.

As the play opens, three masked acolytes peer through a richly painted scrim and nervously ask, “Where is he? Where is he?” A restive crowd in the ancient city of Uruk impatiently awaits the coronation of a new king, Prince Gilgamesh (Rico Reid), son of the late king. But he is AWOL, and the play’s namesake character, Inanna (vivacious Diana Garle) — goddess of love, war, fertility, plus a few other divine attributes — is desperate. She has descended with haunting luminosity from heaven to crown Gilgamesh, and he is a no-show. What’s a goddess to do? Stage a diversion.

Enter the huluppu tree. Uprooted and washed adrift in a river of the Urukians’ tears (grieving their king’s death), this sapling was rescued by Inanna, and, after a three-generation divine family dust-up, she plants it next to the temple to serve as a time-marker for the arrival of a new king. Thus, we have our diversion.

But in drama, as in life, plans go awry. Replete with golden fruit and elegantly crafted in graceful wooden arcs and poles, the huluppu tree stands commandingly center stage. It grows thicker and denser before our eyes. An attractive nuisance, however, it soon hosts an unwelcome encampment of three lively new deities (the Sumerians had thousands of them), two of whom flap, roar, swoop and somersault in the air: Luckner Bruno’s thunder-cracking Anzu and acrobatic goddess of merriment and laughter, Siduri (Ana Mendez). They are lifted and propelled with skill and strength by unseen stagehands. (Tip of the hat to Cirque du Soleil, Crouching Tiger and MTC technical director, Ron Burns.)

These oversize characters, each with a distinctive trick bag, neglect official duties to instead cavort, vie for position and devour the tasty huluppu fruit (a few of which they toss into the audience). Among these three freeloaders, the “pharmacist” Ningizzida, (Troy Davidson) eloquently exploits his jokester role and his signature props: a roulette wheel of maladies and herbal remedies and a multi-pocketed cloak of herbs. Inanna is stymied by these loafing lodgers, but then Prince Gilgamesh, the would-be king, returns from his pilgrimage and is put to the test: Can he turn out the freeloaders and restore order to the kingdom? Can Inanna keep him on track, avoiding violence? Will the audience repeatedly surge to his aid? (Does Superman wear a cape?)

Some of the larger-than-life characters are effectively amped-up with computer-enhanced voices and, in the case of Anzu, by that glorious steroidal body armor, enormous wings and yellow-feathered legs. Subtleties of staging and delivery are interwoven amid broader styles of engagement with an indulgent and mostly guileless audience, reared on The Lion King, Star Wars and Xbox. The assembly eagerly embraces this combination of old and new stylings.

In the music, sound design, choreography and deep, richly layered set, we inhabit an ambiguous milieu, but when did you last encounter “authentic” Sumerian music or dance? A combination of live percussion (musicians perched in a Mondrian-like scaffolding within a luminous cathedral of modulated blue light) and commissioned music evocative of such diverse sources as John Williams’ extra-terrestrial scores, early rap and Putamayo’s Arabic Groove carries us through tonal moods that complement the drama. Never outright campy, the playwrights, director, choreographer and actors give an occasional wink to avoid sanctimoniousness, even as they preach that old time religion.

Confession one: My wife and I have no children. Confession two: We cheered with the best of them. You will too.

May 1 – June 2, 2013 at the Miami Theater Center, 9806 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami Shores; at 10:00 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 7:00 p.m. Saturdays; cost is $20; 305-751-9550; www.mtcmiami.org.

The recently formed multicultural dance troupe founded by dancer/choreographer and NWSA professor Peter London gets its first big local stage outing for “Spring Nights at the Arsht,” which is comprised of six new dances.

India Jazz Suites: The Fastest Feet in Rhythm pretty much spells out what will be going down Saturday at the South-Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center. The event is a high-speed hybrid of ancient Indian moves and contemporary tap, created by Kathak dance master Pandit Chitresh Das and celebrated tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith.

Many dancers talk of the energy in their work, but few understand it in the way Das does. The 69-year-old dancer’s pursuit of the sublime doesn’t stop with his deep devotion to Kathak, a classical Northern Indian dance form. He likes to mix things up, juxtaposing the rhythmic structures of his own tradition with others, opening up to improvisation, or as he calls it, a “conversation” between traditions.

Das’ partner in that conversation began his career at age 15 as understudy for Savion Glover in the Broadway production of Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk. Samuels Smith went on to win an American Choreography Award for a televised tribute to Gregory Hines, and founded Los Angeles’ first tap dance festival in 2003. He has tapped his way across prominent stages from London to Chicago, and has appeared as a guest performer on So You Think You Can Dance.

Das’ interest in other traditions began with a ritual fire ceremony six decades ago, marking the start of his training with guru Pandit Ram Narayan Misra, who was more interested in his student’s integrity than his dance technique. In the 18 years they worked together, Misra taught Das the two most important lines within Kathak dance: the sensuality of the Lucknow school and the fierce rhythm of the Jaipur school.

Das’ parents were celebrated dancers in the classical tradition. “It seemed there was never an end to the dancing at home,” he says. “It went on all day and all night. Much of it might have been considered ‘subversive,’ pro-Indian independence reworking of classical works.”

His parents’ dance school was among the most celebrated in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and their son was something of a prodigy. Das’ first public performance was with sitar genius Ravi Shankar.

“I grew up in a golden time,” Das says, referring to his apprenticeship as well as the promise of India in the 1950s. But by the 1970s, fewer Indians seemed interested in their own culture. “One needs to go out of one’s country to understand it,” his mother told him. And so, like so many other young people at the time, Das set out for Berkeley, Calif.

“Everything was going on, some of it wondrous,” he says. “Still, I was isolated from my own roots, my own environment, and when that happens, one recreates one’s own environment.”

Since then, he has recreated that environment all over the world. Today Das has dance schools in Kolkata, Mumbai, San Francisco, Boston and Toronto. He performed at Lincoln Center in New York in 1988 and has been featured in documentaries on PBS and the BBC. He also offers classes to the children of sex workers in Mumbai’s Red Light district and gives workshops at the Blind Opera of Kolkata.

His intention is to honor the instructions of his guru: “To live and to dance as though the [dancers’ ankle] bells, the students, the audience and even a stray chair have all become one.”

In India Jazz Suites, add Samuel Smith’s tapping feet to the sound of those bells. And, Das says, just as when particles collide, “what the audience will be witnessing is energy.”

This appeared in the Miami Herald, 4/16/13

The lovely weather down here these days, the vibrant cultural scene, the ethnically diverse food options, all those are reasons that have Alison Chase jumping for joy. It is pretty cold, by the way, in Maine, where she lives.

But more important than all that: the modern dance giant — she co-founded, oh, some little groups you may have heard of, like Pilobolus and Momix — is thrilled to be in South Florida this week to hold the world premiere of her work Red Weather, at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC) on Saturday.

Red Weather is part of a four-piece show that Chase’s touring program, Alison Chase Performance (from her dance theater production company, Apogee Arts), will be performing in our area, where she and her dancers have also been sharing with the community by way of workshops.

“I am doing a whole week of outreach here, and one workshop was very exciting because it involved kids from the area and a senior citizens group, and so we did a transgenerational workshop,” says Chase from the SMDCAC facilities. “I am looking forward to working with local choreographers and dancers… I would like to come down and just do research, with the music and the restaurants. This is a really rich, wonderful, community here.”

The opportunity to teach in South Florida is a welcomed one for the choreographer, professor and 67-year-old mother of three who brought a highly kinetic style to dance, adding film, aerial performances (expect that in her South Miami-Dade show), and multidimensional storytelling to create a signature style.

“We don’t have such a dynamically diverse community,” continues Chase about how South Florida differs from her region. “We enjoy teaching people the process of invention, and encourage them to blend whatever kind of dance they do, whether it’s merengue or salsa, to approach it playfully, and to expand that vocabulary out.”

And expanding the vocabulary of dance is what St. Louis-born-and-raised Alison Chase has been doing most notably since October 1971 when, along with several colleagues at Darmouth College, what would become one of the world’s best known and most important contemporary dance companies, Pilobolus Dance Theater, took its first steps.

Chase’s life with Pilobolus abruptly and stunningly came to an end, however, in December 2005. Reports surfaced that Chase had been fired due to differences with the company’s board of directors, who wanted her to sign over ownership of her innovative works.

She refused.

Pilobolus, meanwhile, disputed her version of ownership rights in the media.

When asked about this episode today, Chase responds that she can’t comment on it. “Well, I have moved beyond. I have signed a gag order,” she says. “I am delighted to be doing what I’m doing.”

After the Pilobolus chapter, the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980), among many other awards, free-lanced, until she officially founded Apogee Arts in 2010.

“I realized that I passionately enjoy making dances, and if I had an ensemble that I could sort of be free to direct into new choreographic adventures, and teach them, I felt there would be great freedom in a small organization that’s not trapped by such a heavy, heaving touring schedule,” she explains. “And I’ve enjoyed doing it with a pacing and a phrasing that I can control and that it’s not overwhelmingly frenetic. I like to work slow.”

Slow, however, is definitely not an adjective to describe her work.

Alison Chase Performance at SMDCAC, 10950 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay, Saturday, April 13, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $35 (a select number of $5 Cultureshockmiami.com tickets are available for ages 13-22); www.smdcac.org; 786-573-5300; www.cultureshockmiami.com.

This article also appears with Miami New Times.

Chase, on of the founders of Pilobolus and Momix, brings a four-piece show, where she will again mix in video, aerial performances and story-telling, in a production at SMDCAC.

Mixed abilities dance first occurred to Karen Peterson in 1990. She received a phone call from a wheelchair bound woman who wanted a part in a ballet.

“My direction to her was to write about her physical memories, and that gave us the direction for our duet. She gave me incredible inspiration to do something I’d never done before. I was really bored as a choreographer and she gave me something to sink my teeth into,” says Peterson, a veteran dancer and choreographer. For the next 23 years, mixed abilities dance would be the foundation of her internationally known dance company, Karen Peterson and Dancers. “It’s a force and an energy that keeps going round and round,” she says.

Known as KPD for short, the company has featured about 35 choreographies and toured throughout Florida, the United States, Europe and the Americas. About half of the works use mixed ability dancers, which includes a range of formally trained students from New World School of the Arts and Florida International University, as well as a paraplegic, a quadriplegic, and a dancer with Spina Bifida and others. Among the company’s upcoming performances, it will hold its more extensive “23^rd season” concert on April 11 and 12, before heading to Belgrade in May.

On stage, Peterson’s dancers with disabilities are tightly woven with abled body dancers and are equally supportive to execute complex, professional caliber choreography. “It’s a particular art form that has developed along the way,” says Peterson, who has collaborated with the Miami String Project, among other entities, that she said helped attract new audiences. Her clever use of lighting, shadows, backdrops, and mixed media add another element of entertainment to the company’s performances./
Peterson talked to Artburst about the special qualities of mixed-abilities dance, her upcoming performance and how this art form has transforms lives.

What is the process of turning people with disabilities into dancers?

A: I use movements that work best on their bodies. Say there’s a dancer who can only move his right elbow and his head, so you of think of how many ways you can find that uses those body parts. You find common denominators as a group. These are simple tasks. It’s almost like working with a palette and meshing together certain colors.

Your company breaks the mold of traditional dance. Therefore, what is your idea of a dancer?

Someone with an open hearted, generous spirit of physicality that needs to be shared with others. Intimate, honest and willing to be flexible and patient and willing to be part of a creative process, where you don’t know where you’re going, but at the end of the line there will be something that’s waiting for me.

How do you convince a disabled person that they can actually perform as a dancer? And how have abled body dancers embraced the concept.

My experience is that it’s not for everyone. I don’t think you really need to sell the idea. I think dancers have decided that it’s something that they want to do. They understand my vision and my work and that they are part of the creative process. Both disabled and abled body dancers balance the other out 50 percent.

What type of impact has performing had on some of your dancers with disabilities?

On March 10, we had a performance with 190 students with learning disabilities from Miami middle and high schools. The kids really love it. They usually don’t get the opportunity to train with dance instructors and it’s a very supportive day. They all love to move and dance. Despite their learning disability, there was never a moment when they didn’t want to dance and express themselves.

From where do you draw inspiration to create dance pieces?

Some are driven by music. Some are driven by visual images such as animals, water and trees. But this particular concert (April 11, 12) follows a narrative of one man and two women drinking in a café and what can happen. The dancers range in age from 28 to 63, so there’s a wide-range of abilities and a wide-range of ages. That’s a great maturity and a great weight to the work.

What are some of the most memorable experiences that you’ve had with your dance company over the years?

I feel very lucky. I’ve met some beautiful people along the way. We had a performance in New York City in 2003 at a mixed-ability festival. My first teaching residency in Brazil, which was the first thing I did by myself out of the country. We were welcomed, accepted and embraced in their country. And in 2010, when I made my dancers jump from their wheelchairs into my pool. We video-taped them underwater and the footage was used as a backdrop to one of the performances.

Karen Peterson and Dancers Season of Dance With New Work, Thursday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m. and Friday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m., Miami-Dade County Auditorium On Stage Black Box, 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami; tickets $18, $13 students; www.karenpetersondancers.org.

When performances are “based on” something, we all get that the inspiration is real, the interpretation not recognizable. Then there is the up-coming concert from the Montreal dance company Compagnie Marie Chouinard, which will feature a truly novel way of re-imagining an original work. As one of the last of Tigertail Productions offerings this season, the piece “Henri Michaux: Mouvements” is both avant-garde and accessible. It is based on a 1951 French book, which combined poetry and 64 pages of India ink drawings, black-and-white images that were, according to the choreographer Chouinard, a “feast of bursting lines, spots and kaleidoscopic arms,” which she then translated to a dance for the stage. True to the source material, the dancers are all dressed in black, the stage is white, and they morph into silhouettes – they are animated drawings, dancers, and moving art works all at once. Not surprisingly, Chouinard — who establisher her company in 1990 and has won numerous awards since then — has a background in set, costume and lighting design as well, which all comes out in her complete and stunning creations. “Mouvements” comes to the Colony Theatre (1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) on Friday and Saturday, at 8:30 p.m., with an opening each night of “Etude for Duets”; cost is $25, $35 $50; tigertail.org, www.mariechouinard.com.

See also the interview with marie Chouinard in the Miami Herald, www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/11/3338438/poems-drawings-inspired-new-piece.html

Hailed as the “greatest tap dancer who ever lived,” Savion Glover will bring more than thrilling footwork to the Arsht Center this Saturday. His latest project “SoLe Sanctuary” is a “meditation” on the dance form that he says is his life — and an homage to the late dance greats, who paved the way.

Performing with him is Miami’s own Marshall Davis Jr., a long-time collaborator and like Glover, an accomplished torchbearer of the hoofing tradition.

“SoLe Sanctuary’ rekindles the legacies of Gregory Hines, Steve Condos and Sammy Davis Jr., among other tap icons who left an indelible mark on the dance world and American society at various eras. The touring show is intimate and features a candlelit stage and a white-clothed human prop who meditates on stage for the duration of Glover and Davis’ rhythmic sequences. As critics have said, the stage is literally an altar for the late legends.

“People will enjoy themselves,” says 39-year-old Glover. For Davis, coming back to where he got his start makes the show even more heartfelt. “I’m really looking forward to it. When I left, the Adrienne Arsht Center didn’t exist,” says the 35-year-old, who resides in New York.

Both Glover and Davis rose to stardom as child prodigies. Glover, with his signature dreaded hair and joyful animation, was credited for reinventing tap dance with his hard-hitting style and improvisational choreography, a groundbreaking fusion of jazz, hip-hop, be-bop, and world music patterns and rhythms. The two-time Tony Award winner has enjoyed an illustrious career on Broadway, television and motion pictures, including starring roles with his trainer and mentors Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Similarly Davis, trained by the late Condos, performed in the award-winning “Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk” on Broadway (the show that gave Glover a Tony Award) and Disney’s Oscar-winning motion picture “Happy Feet,” which was choreographed by Glover.

Before heading to Miami, Glover spoke to Artburst about what he and Davis hope to convey through ‘SoLe Sanctuary.’

AB: Could you explain the concept of “SoLe Sanctuary.”
Glover: The concept is basically an opportunity for myself and Marshall to pay homage to the men and women who came before us and some of the greatest contributors, the greatest expressionists and greatest dancers we’ve had. All of my productions are dedicated to them, but this is the first one that speaks to that point and that the audience can hear better.

It’s mostly improvisation and an evening of meditation. It’s like that person is meditating to the sound of the dance and thinking about and praying for the women and men that the production is about. If I wasn’t dancing, that’s what I would be doing. It’s like subconsciously, I am that person.

How has it felt to have worked personally with such dance greats who have passed on.? Do you feel a renewed drive to carry the torch?

It’s motivating. It’s everything. It gives me more of a sense of purpose. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of them. They are my life. They are my teachers, my fathers, my friends.

Tap dance is seemingly less prevalent than other performance art. Do you feel that it’s a challenge to keep it relevant?

I’ve been hearing this my entire 32-year journey, but to us it’s alive. Tap is as popular as the individual chooses it to be. Since there has been air and gravity, there has been tap dance.

Besides touring for “SoLe Sanctuary,” are there any upcoming productions, movies or collaborations that you are working on?

I’m not working on any movies or anything. I am continuing to work at my craft. As far as collaborations, all of the people who I’ve wanted to collaborate with have already passed on, like Michael Jackson, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Maybe I would do a collaboration with Sade or Anita Baker. But I’m pretty cool and grateful that I’ve been able to collaborate with the ones who I have collaborated with.

You emerged as hip hop music hit its stride and many associated you with that generation. But given your work with the likes of Hines and Sammy Davis, you were also perceived as the bridge between the old and new. Do you see yourself in that role and do you make an intentional effort to connect with younger generations?

I am doing what I set out to do. I’m not gearing my work to any generation. Every generation has their own following. It’s obvious that people of my generation will be aware of me. Tap dance is loved by all. But I do not wish to associate what I do with hip hop. Now, because I grew up listening to that music at a point in my career it was very aggressive, but I’ve moved far passed that. My dance is universal.

Showtime for “SoLe Sanctuary” is 8:00 p.m., April 6, at the Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center for Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Tickets cost $50 to $125. For more information, visit www.knightfoundation.org or call 305-949-6722.

College fraternities and sororities, despite their stereotype as havens for youthful debauchery and mayhem, can actually become birthplaces of innovation and creativity. In the early 1990s, the art of stepping, created by African-American college students, swept across college campuses and started a dance movement that has found acceptance in churches and even the Kennedy Center. This weekend, the six-member Step Afrika!, a Washington, D.C.-based dance company that uses the art of stepping, opens at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center and co-presented by Culture Shock Miami this Saturday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m.

The art of stepping uses the body as a percussive instrument where rhythms and sounds, footsteps, claps and spoken word resonate and burst out of the body. It’s a synthesis of jazz, funk, rhythm-and-blues and rap all without using “real” instruments.

“You use the tools on your physical body, clapping and stomping and vocals, to create music and dance,” says Nicolle Ugarriza, marketing and communications manager. “Groups are trying to out-do each other, similar to what you see in urban street dancing.”

Step Afrika! has a reputation for creating super-dynamic, hyper-kinetic performances that speak to audiences and moves them to their feet. It also appeals to a broad range of people, including young kids, who are exposed to a wide variety of musical forms that they may not otherwise be exposed to — and all of this made with a stomp and a step.

Since the MDCAC opened its doors, it has developed programming that appeals to a wider audience, especially families and children. According to Ugarriza, “by co-presenting with Culture Shock Miami, the center hopes to continue to attract the next generation of audience members to enjoy and support the arts. Offering a ticket at $5 to 13-22 year olds to an exciting and relevant performance, we hope to communicate that SMDCAC is a place of quality and affordable presentations.”

In the spirit of bringing the community closer to the arts, the center will offer free dance classes for youth and adults starting at age 11 and up on Friday, April 5 at 5:00 p.m. “With every performance we bring to the center, we hope that people go away feeling inspired and moved by the artists that they saw as well as intellectually stimulated.”

“Step Afrika!” takes the stage on Saturday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m. at SMDCAC, 10950 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay; tickets cost $15-$10, $5 for 13-22 year olds; www.SMDCAC.org, (for youth) www.cultureshockmiami.com or 786-573-5300. For free classes space is limited; Carla Hill; 86-573-5319, CarlaH@miamidade.gov.

At 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22, hundreds of people were descending on South Florida for Ultra Fest, the Sony-Ericsson Open, and spring break festivities on the beach. In a world apart and oblivious to the vehicular chaos, the eight members of Dance Now Ensemble (DNE) — the six dancers that make up the company and co-directors Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini — were hard at work all day on their upcoming presentation Songs of Spring, which will premiere on Friday, March 29 at The Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road.

It was the last hour of a full day of rehearsals and company class at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, where the company is in residence. The dancers were in the center of one of the building’s dance studios. In two circles of three people each, the dancers were rehearsing what looked like a blossoming flower.  “As cheesy as this might sound, this needs to be grandiose!” exclaimed Salterini. To which Baumgarten added, “imagine a Busby Berkeley musical.”

And you could picture Busby high on a crane filming the geometric explosion of a water ballet or the blossom of many a chorus girl in feathers. Once performed to satisfaction, the cast of young, sweaty talents was excused for a short break before running the whole piece. “Take your pee, take your water, and take your shoes off.  When do you want your toes to split? The night of dress or today?” And on that quip from Baumgarten, the studio emptied for a moment.

The stage may be the place where a dance is dressed in costumes and made up in light, but the studio is the real sacred space where the dance is birthed, shaped, nurtured, disciplined and then finally set free to greet the world. Songs of Spring is much like that, celebrating the triumphant awakening of all glorious and youthful things. During the run-through Salterini directs the company to “open your eyes, smile, discover the world with your bodies…see what’s happening.” Conceived to commemorate the week shared by both Passover and Easter this year, which falls during DNE’s spring concert, Baumgarten says, “both holidays celebrate life’s renewal.” Themes of spring and of flora bursting from hibernation dominate the choreographic translation.

The piece is set to one of Mozart’s most popular serenades, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music,” which will be performed live during the concert by the South Beach Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Michael Andrews. Instantly recognizable from the opening fanfare, this piece of music seems to exist for the sake of music itself and rejoices in a celebratory tenor.

The four movements were danced with such commitment that one of the ballerina’s bobby pins flew from her hair like a projectile. The piece may look deceptively effortless because the dancers are so strong, but in truth it is a very difficult piece, with many quick changes in direction and petit allegro warping at full speed into lifts and quirky hip undulations. The dance could be a segment in Disney’s Fantasia with great illustrative elegance paired to flourishes of whimsy. It is reminiscent of the fleet footedness and interactions of Paul Taylor’s Arden Court with the one-to-one musical relationship of Mark Morris’ Gloria.  Listening to Baumgarten and Salterini count out a waltz beat or snap and clap the precise turns in a canon, you become aware that nothing is left to chance and every single note and rest has been mapped out, translated, and executed.

The directors prepare their dancers throughout the rehearsal process and especially in company class to become flexible, with different syncopation, qualities, and dynamics of movement and music. Their meshed backgrounds in rhythmic jazz, contemporary and classical ballet, Graham and Limon are ingredients introduced in class time that ultimately informs the rehearsal process.

And in this case in particular, Baumgarten adds, “with live musicians it becomes extremely important to know where the notes are because the tempo may change from the recorded version you get used to in the studio.” To which Salterini added an anecdote from his earlier days, “You could always tell if the Maestro of the orchestra was in a hurry because the run through and rehearsal would end about 30 minutes earlier than the night before.”

The program will also include Salterini’s 7 Duets in 7 Movements, which includes his previously choreographed duets presented together, and Baumgarten’s exploration of relationships covering new ground, in a departure from her usual edginess, in 8 Actions of Love.

Songs of Spring will be presented Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30 at 8:00 p.m. at The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; Tickets cost $35; dancenowmiami.org, 305-975-8489 or The Colony Theatre, 305-674-1040.